Netanyahu has insisted that Israel needs to establish security controls within Gaza in the aftermath of the war.
By Vered Weiss, World Israel News
The IDF is constructing a one-kilometer (0.63 miles) buffer zone on the Gaza border to prevent future attacks like the Hamas invasion of communities in southern Israel on October 7th, The Wall Street Journal reports.
Israel’s military is filling in terror tunnels, demolishing buildings and bulldozing areas to ensure a clear space through which the military can detect any threats that may approach the border with Israel.
Although the border was monitored prior to the October 7th attacks, protests and agricultural activity were allowed close to the security fence, and lookouts reported suspicious individuals posing as farmers and protestors approaching the border prior to the Hamas invasion.
The 21 soldiers who were killed in an explosion in southern Gaza on Tuesday were engaged in a project to clear the area of buildings.
U.S. officials have expressed dismay at the plan, and have claimed that the action will displace Palestinians and give the impression that Israel will be occupying Gaza after the war.
Netanyahu has insisted that Israel needs to establish security controls within Gaza in the aftermath of the war.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken expressed his criticism of the buffer zone plan and said, “We’ve been very clear about our opposition to the forced displacement of people. We’ve been very clear about maintaining in effect the territorial integrity of Gaza.”
However, Blinken later showed more flexibility in the acceptance of a security buffer zone, at least as a “transitional arrangement” with Israel’s military.
Israeli officials have indicated that he buffer zone could be a temporary measure, but haven’t given an estimate on how long it would be needed or the size of the land strip required.
Although it seems the width will be one-kilometer, this may vary in some areas depending on the population of communities on the other side of the zone.
The Israeli military has demolished 1,072 out of 2,824 buildings located a kilometer or less from the border.